With
absolutely no help or encouragement from me, IS 318's graduating eighth grade
class have become tremendous bughouse players (in addition to being the 8th
grade, K-8, and K-9 national champions of "regular chess").This year, JP Garcia and D'Andrea Dey won
the NY State High School bughouse championship; Black Feng (James Black and
Danny Feng) finished second. In the National (K-9) Bughouse Championship, IS
318 finished with 3 ½ of the top 5 places, including first (Black Feng) and
second (David Kim and Randy Rivera). As
a post-nationals final project, I asked each member of the 8th grade
class to write a short instructional article about some aspect of bughouse. I
was amazed by what I received. These students have mapped out comprehensive
systems of opening theory, with competing schools of thought. They think in
terms of light and dark square strategy. I learned a lot reading the articles,
so much that I asked Jennifer here at CLO if she'd be interested in
publishing them. She was, and so I've selected the best articles, and grouped
them in three installments:this first
article covers opening theory; the second describes typical attacking themes,
and the third covers defensive tactics and "partner management." I hope you
enjoy them and learn as much as I did- Elizabeth Vicary, IS 318 Coach Danny
FengI think the best opening against 1. e4
in bughouse is 1...Nf6. 1.e4 Nf6 The most common and tempting move is 2.
e5. 2.e5 The best move for White is actually
2.Nc3! d5 This is probably the only move for Black. 3.exd5 (3.e5 Nc6) 3...Nxd5
4.Bc4 (4.Nxd5 Qxd5 This can get quite bad if White gets to play [email protected], so
it's wise to check what they have, but if things continue normally, Black is fine. The plan for Black is Bg4, Nc6, e6, and Bc5/b4.) 4...e6
This position is a bit difficult to play, but I would probably continue
...Nxc3, ...[email protected], or ...[email protected], ...Nc6, and ...e5. 2...d5 This is the best move even though it
seems insane at first because Black is
obviously giving a knight away. 3.exf6 Another move for White is 3.d4,
refusing to take the knight. This is not a very common move and I've never
faced it in a tournament. 3...Ne4
Black is threatening to get an attack with 4...Nxf2 and [email protected][email protected] If
Be3 (Be3/e6 is usually not a good move in bughouse), [email protected] is an idea, making
the bishop move away from f2. White's only move is probbaly [email protected], which traps
the knight, but they might not have a pawn in hand. If you don't have a knight
to drop, your plan is Bf5, e6, Be7, and Nc6. This is like a French, except the
light squared bishop isn't terrible and the knight that is normally on g8 is on
the very active square e4. You should watch out for [email protected], controlling the dark
squares. Blackcan also play similarly
with [email protected], with the idea [email protected], cxd3, cxd3, Bxd3 and [email protected] again, controlling the
light squares. Castling is not recommended for either side because of things
like [email protected][email protected] ...h5 can be considered for Black because it stops [email protected] Black should check what pieces White has. If (s)he has a pawn and a
knight, h7-h5 might be bad because White has [email protected] anyway and if gxh6, then
[email protected]+ followed by Nxh5 is almost winning for White. Black has to watch out for his/her dark squares in
order to be safe. 3...exf6 Black is actually better in this position because he is up a tempo, and
it's not easy for White to attack because of the pawn on f6. Black will have an easy time developing with Nc6,
Bd6, Bf5 (Bg4 if there's a knight on f3) and even ...0-0 can be considered,
followed by ...Re8+. Other ideas for Black are [email protected] when White has played Nf3 and d4, or Bb4+, to trick White
into playing c3 and weakening the light squares. If White plays d3 instead of
d4, they'll have little space and Black should have a easy game.

David
KimI think keeping the e6-d6 pawn wall is
better than playing e6-d5 or d6-e5 because both e6/d5 and d6/e5 make the
squares around the pawns weak.
1.e4 e6 1...d6 2.d4 e5 , I think 3.d5 d5 is the
best move. Your plan is playing Bc4 and dropping pawns on f5 and e6. 2.d4 d5 I think playing the Advanced is
the best because you start attacking the dark squares. 3.e5 If 3...c5, you
play 4.Bf4 , drop a pawn on d6, and Black's dark squares will be weak. 4...Nc6 and White'sidea is to try [email protected]

JP
Garcia 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Nc6 This is the opening that I play. You
can also get a good attack. Now they usually play 4. Bb5 or 4. @Pc5. One way to
defend against this is to drop a pawn on d6 or play Be7 and try to drop another
bishop on f8. You may have to use both ideas. 4.Bb5 Most people do this to get their
partner a knight. This shouldn't affect your partner that much because Black is usually defending. 4...Be7 This is usually played to stop any
ideas with Nf3-g5 or Bg5. 5.Nf3 h5! The move ...h5 is used to activate your
rook. You can play ...Nh6 and after Bxh6, ...Rxh6. You can it to attack g2 with
Rg6. if they don't take your knight, you can play either ...Ng4 or ...Nf5,
protecting d6. This only works after White plays Nf3; without it, White can
take on h5 with the queen. 6.Bxc6+ bxc6 7.Nc3 Nh6 Now one idea is to play Ng4 and drop a
pawn on e3, trying to clear the f2 square. To defend f7, you can try to place a
bishop on g8.

Shawn
Swindell 1.e4 e6 Against 1... e6 there are many things you
can play, depending on your style but I play 2.d4. Against 1...d6 I play 2.d4 If 2...e6 (Anything
else besides 2... e6 is bad, for example: 2...Nf6 3.Nc3 and White's idea
is 4. d5; or 2...e5 3.d5) 3.d5.And your plan here is Bc4, Nc3 and
attack the light squares.
Against 1...e5 you just play 2.Bc4 threatening to
play 3. Bxf7 and a knight drop on g5 or just 3. Nf3 then 4. Bxf7 or vice
versa.;
If 1...Nf6 2.e5 Ne4 you just
play 3.Qe2 or 3.Qf3 defending against ...Nxf2. (The national K-9 bughouse champion, Danny Feng, plays 2...d5 3.d4 --
don't take the knight-- it's nothing for White-- 3...Ne4 and here either 4.Qe2
or (4.Be3 is good. After this, you want to remove the Black knight from the center with 5. Nd2 or 5. Bd3.)
)
1...d5 2.exd5
Qxd5 3.Nc3;
1...c5 is a weakening pawn move and you have many options 2.d4
opening the position, is good, as well as(2.e5 attacking the weak d6
square.; You can also just play normally with 2.Nf3 ) ;
Against
1...c6 you play 2.d4+- This is almost winning. Black has almost completely weakened his dark squares; White's much
better if he/she plays d5 or e5;
1...Nc6 is weak; you just play 2.d4 2.d4 And now White should with the following
ideas-- opening up the position, gaining space in the center, and opening up Black
's kingside. Remember, it's not rated "for now," so just have fun.
Brooklyn Bughouse Tips Parts II and III coming to CLO over the next few weeks. Follow uschess on twitter and like our new facebook fan page to stay posted.